World Food Day 2023: Farmers and fishers need to become agents of water management
World Food Day 2023 shines a spotlight on water as the foundation for life and food. "Water is Life, Water is Food – Leave no one behind" is the theme for World Food Day this year. The theme reflects one of the planet’s most precious resources: water, which is one of the most essentials to life on Earth.
Water covers the majority of the planet’s surface, makes up over 50 percent of our bodies, helps keep us fed, supports livelihoods and is central to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the face of the complex challenges posed by climate change and pollution, it is vital to shield our freshwater resources and aquatic food systems while ensuring that people have equal access to water.
Over the past two decades, we have witnessed a loss of approximately one-fifth of the freshwater available to people. Without action, we are on course to increase our agricultural water use by more than a third by 2050. That means, collectively, we risk reaching a point of no return, and climate change is bound to worsen our water challenges.
Water challenges affect different people in different ways. Particularly in water-stressed areas, even the smallest change can have a major impact on people’s lives. Rapid population growth, urbanization, economic development and climate change have all taken a toll on our water resources. Paired with water pollution and overextraction, this creates a complex mix of challenges.
Innovative, efficient water management practices and action on the ground is already underway. “Initiatives such as mainstreaming biodiversity conservation and sustainable use into inland fisheries practices in freshwater ecosystems (IFish project), developing a national strategy for sustainable management of aquatic genetic resources and the works to combat water scarcity demonstrate our commitment to Indonesia,” said Rajendra Aryal, FAO Representative in Indonesia and Timor Leste.
Farmers and fishers need to become agents of water management and be equipped with the right tools to do so sustainably. Farmers, livestock producers and those working in the blue economy already manage water on a daily basis.
“Supporting and encouraging them to take leadership in finding and implementing water solutions is both the obvious and the smart thing to do. This is not possible, though, without providing them with the knowledge, appropriate technologies, training and information and involving them in all stages of the planning and decision-making process, ” added Aryal further.
Managing water starts by selecting and using the right biodiversity in production systems, which includes local livestock races, crops and plants (species and varieties) that are resilient and adapted to the environment. “We need to shield our existing freshwater resources and aquatic food systems from pollution and impacts of climate change, and we have to ensure that people have equal access to water,” Aryal added.
Ninety-nine percent of liquid freshwater on Earth is groundwater. It is the source of a quarter of all the water we use in our daily lives. FAO is developing tools to help governments and communities to monitor water productivity in agriculture and identify areas to cut water losses. One such tool is FAO’s WaPOR that provides open access data for all regions in the world. Using satellite technology, it offers a way to estimate groundwater consumption and withdrawal in near-real time by measuring "evapotranspiration".
In summary, as we mark World Food Day 2023, we must collectively recognize the significance of water in our lives. We have to treat our water like our life and food. These actions are integral to achieving FAO's "Four Betters": better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.
About World Food Day
World Food Day is observed annually on October 16th to commemorate the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Collective action across over 150 countries worldwide is what makes World Food Day one of the most celebrated days in the UN calendar.